Salesforce Learning Solutions: AppExchange Buyers Guide

Last week in San Francisco it was impossible to miss the presence of Salesforce, with more than 170,000 customers, employees, developers and business partners swarming the streets during the annual Dreamforce conference. And if that wasn’t enough, look up! What stands out on the city skyline now? The Golden Gate Bridge? The Transamerica Pyramid? No, it’s the Salesforce Tower, a gleaming $1 billion skyscraper that will soon be the tallest building in the city and home base for 30% of the company’s workforce.

Analysts at IDC estimate that the Salesforce economy — the platform and its community of customers and business partners — will directly create 3.3 million new jobs and drive more than $859 billion in new business revenues worldwide by 2022. Partners in this ecosystem are expected to continue earning their fair share of the revenue pie, capturing $5.20 for every $1 Salesforce generates directly — up from $3.40 in 2016. This not only is proof of the platform’s strength, but also the strength of cloud computing, which is growing at a much faster pace than IT spending, overall.

The Business Wisdom of Salesforce AppExchange

Salesforce takes its responsibility as a platform vendor very seriously. Nearly 12 years ago, the company launched the Salesforce AppExchange as a one-stop-shop for third-party solutions that extend and enhance the platform’s core functionality. Today, AppExchange is the world’s largest business applications marketplace, featuring more than 4000 customer-focused apps, components and service providers.

Salesforce and the LMS: A Powerful Combination

Several years ago, we wrote about the business benefits of integrating modern learning management systems with customer relationship management software. What has changed since then? This “LMS/CRM marriage” strategy is even more compelling today, as companies look for more intelligent ways to elevate customer experience, transform sales and service operations, and drive business performance.

To help you easily research these vendors, we’ve created the following alphabetical list of learning-related AppExchange solutions. Each product listing includes the number of reviews received to-date and its average rating by AppExchange users (based on a 5-star scale). Note: While anyone can browse AppExchange listings publicly, only registered Salesforce users can actually rate products.

myTrailhead: A New Twist on Salesforce and Learning

There’s also noteworthy news on the Salesforce learning horizon, directly from the platform source. In recent years, Salesforce has moved aggressively to lead by example in providing educational content and tools for business users, admins, developers and others in the community. In 2014, the company unveiled Trailhead — a learning app that develops Salesforce technical competency by awarding points and badges to users as they master relevant skills.

Now, Salesforce is moving a step further. Building on the success of Trailhead, the company has announced myTrailhead, which promises to help organizations deliver their own engaging instructional content through personalized learning journeys and gamification. The product targets four common corporate learning scenarios:

Product education

New hire orientation

Workplace culture awareness training

Leadership development

What does the arrival of myTrailhead mean for third-party learning solution providers? It remains to be seen if they will perceive this new offering as a direct threat and if it will cannibalize their sales. However, the myTrailhead FAQ attempts to offset concerns with this messaging:

“While it is not an LMS, myTrailhead is a great complement to existing LMS platforms. myTrailhead creates a culture of inspirational learning in the workplace by making it fun and engaging, while helping to drive adoption of Salesforce products.”

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Not sure if that will be enough to convince LMS vendors, but we’ll keep our eyes open for further developments as the product rolls out in the second half of 2018. In the meantime, if you’re looking for a Salesforce learning solution that’s available today, feel free to research the third-party applications listed below.

(And if you want independent guidance in choosing the best solution for your needs, feel free to contact our lead analyst John Leh for a preliminary phone consultation.)

Learning Solutions Developed by Salesforce

Trailhead Tracker – 87 reviews/4 stars average
The fun way to empower employees to learn Salesforce

Closing Notes

With a collection of more than 70 learning solutions, today’s Salesforce AppExchange clearly represents a vibrant and diverse ecosystem. And the future looks bright for both buyers and sellers, with robust growth expected to continue in cloud computing, Salesforce adoption and extended enterprise learning.

However, despite Salesforce’s platform leadership, lines are beginning to blur as the company expands its own portfolio of branded business learning applications and components. While customers may welcome a broader selection of AppExchange options (regardless of whether they are developed independently or in-house), this strategy could potentially dampen third-party involvement and innovation over time. We will be watching closely as Salesforce moves forward in this space.

Thanks for reading!

Want more LMS insights? Replay our on-demand webinar:

Convincing employees to engage in training is hard enough. So what happens when you want to educate customers, channel partners and others across your extended enterprise? Relevant content is a start, but it is not enough.

What else does it take to succeed?

Join John Leh, CEO and Lead Analyst at Talented Learning, and Kevin Hanegan, VP of Knowledge and Learning at Qlik, as they explore learning strategies that win extended enterprise hearts and minds. They discuss:

Kathleen "KK" Kruse has been exploring communication, technology and business dynamics for more than 20 years. As a consultant, she focuses on the space where humans and digital tools intersect -- including learning and content strategies, community building and social media, and user experience and information design. A storyteller at heart, KK blends analytical insight, creative vision, and the power of the English language to define and develop narratives that are relevant, useful and persuasive. Her efforts have won credibility and market momentum for some of the world’s most innovative companies, such as Adobe, Apple, Netscape and Yahoo! You can connect with KK on Twitter at (@kkruse) or on LinkedIn at in/kathleenkruse.